Flightless Bird
by 1upninja
Summary: Rachel has been on her own for awhile after finding her way out of a bad situation with only Puck on her side, then Quinn starts taking intrest in her. What Quinn will find will not be anything like what she expected. Side Brittana/ Puckleberry bromance
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So I haven't given up on my other stories but the little bunnies in my head are so focused on this new thing that there's no room for anything else, so what better way to switch focus than just giving the bunnies what they want. So this is pretty canon all through season 2, only Rachel never got back together with Finn during the summer and Quinn didn't go crazy in the beginning of season 3. A bit of a difference is Brittana are together and out even though the senior year just started, Sam never left, and Puckleberry are close friends. And yes I made up The Dimes Café.**

**Trigger Warning**** to people sensitive to cutting, that is going to be a thread in this story and you never know what can trigger something like that so please just know that it's coming, I don't want to trigger anyone. Enjoy and please let me know what you think. Ninja out.**

* * *

Rachel had just gotten off her shift at The Dimes Café and was unlocking her bike from the light post in the parking lot when Noah drove up and parked in front of her. Rachel smiled at the boy who was like her brother; he picked the bike up and put it in the bed of his truck and took Rachel's backpack from her, her shift had started right after school and she hadn't had time to go home and drop off her stuff. Noah took her hand and led her around to the passenger side of and helped her make the step up and handed her back the bag. Jogging back over to his own side he jumped in and drove off towards her apartment.

"You didn't have to come and give me a ride you know." Rachel was tired and her feet hurt but she could have made the trip across town on her own, and Noah needed to know he didn't have to take care of her; though she had been trying to drill that into his head since they were six and it hadn't stuck yet.

"I know, but Ma would kill me if she found out I drove by and didn't at least offer." Noah had just had football practice and it was a stretch to say he had to drive by the Café on his way home.

"You didn't just drive by and you didn't offer." Rachel smirked up at him, Puck just grinned at the girl beside him, she was like a superhero with everything she did and everything she had been through. To come out of it and still be as strong and independent as she was, it blew his mind and Noah cared so much for her.

"I was in my truck and it's not like it takes that long to just drop you off." Puck pulled into a parking space at the apartment building that Rachel lived in and hopped out to grab her bike from the bed of his truck. Handing it off to the small girl, he hugged her and said good night quietly before getting back into his truck and speeding off, Rachel just sighed, at least now she would get to go to sleep at a decent hour after she finished her homework.

Rachel slowly made her way up the two flights of stairs with the bike to her apartment; she fiddled with her keys for a second before finding the right one and leading the bike inside before shutting and locking the door. Looking around her apartment Rachel sighed again, it was small and sparse, but it was hers and she was safe there. A fridge, a stove with an oven that didn't work, and a microwave that you had to hold closed made up her small kitchen; a table with one corner being held up by a stack of books made her place to eat and work, an old couch of the Puckerman's sat in her living room with a sheet over it to cover all the stains.

The one bedroom had a dresser that Rachel had found on the side of the road, and besides a little spray paint there was nothing to wrong with it, and her mattress just lay on the floor with her blankets and pillow waiting for her. The whole apartment had all wood floors so it was easy to keep clean, but it had gotten extremely cold the winter before as she had no fireplace of heater of any kind.

"Home sweet home." Rachel said as she kicked her shoes off and put her bag down on the table as she went into the kitchen. There was very little in the fridge and Rachel noted to herself that she needed to get groceries tomorrow, she sighed again and pulled out the last apple and sat herself down on a stool that Noah had stolen from the choir room for her at her table. She did a bit of homework as she ate. She didn't have as much homework as she thought she would as it was still early in the school year, so once finished Rachel wasn't sure what to do with herself, she thought about her old life and what she would be doing if that was still her life.

"Don't go there, we aren't there anymore, and we're fine." Rachel stood and through her apple core away and made sure the doors and windows were all locked up, needing to see she was really safe, then her phone rang. It was Noah, Rachel answered right away. "Hey, Noah, what's up?"

"Just checking up on you, Ma says to invite you to dinner on Saturday and that you are always welcome to use the washer and dryer so stop asking and just bring your dirty laundry over." Rachel smiled, Maria Puckerman had always been the mother she had never had, and now she was the only parent she had left.

"Tell her I'll be there and thank you." Rachel did need to do laundry, her basket was over flowing and soon she would be out of clean underwear.

"And I can pick you up in the morning, Coach canceled morning practice tomorrow, but afternoon is still on, so we can lock your bike in the bed and you can get it after. Is that cool?" Noah had been giving Rachel rides since he had gotten his truck the year before, Rachel loved the boy like a brother and knew he just wanted to look out for her, it just felt sometimes like having a babysitter, and Rachel hadn't needed anyone in a very long time.

"That will be fine; I can go to the store on my way home before I have to leave for my shift at The Dime." Rachel got up to get herself a glass of water as she spoke but all the came out of the facet was drips and she remembered it was broken. "The kitchen faucet is doing that groaning dripping thing again, I tried that thing you did last time were you messed with the pipes but it didn't help, you think you could take a look at it?"

"Sure Rach, no problem." Noah liked that Rachel always came to him when something was broken around her apartment, he had the only spare key and it gave him an excuse to leave a few extra buck he took off losers around school in her couch. Noah only wished she would come to him when she was broken. Then the boy heard his mother calling him down for dinner. "I got to go; I'll see you in the morning."

"Night Noah."

* * *

"Rachel!" Her father was calling to her; she was back in the house. Rachel looked around, she was in her old bedroom, then the door slammed open and her father walked in and pulled her out by her hair. "When I call for you, you come."

"I'm sorry sir." Rachel snapped back into her old ways, head down as her father dragged her down the hall, just trying to hold her balance, her voice quiet but loud enough to appease her father, let him know he was in charge. He shoved her down the stairs and was pulling her up by her hair before she could find her feet again. He led her to the kitchen, and then shoved her into the edge of the counter, her hip connecting hard with it, the corner had broken the skin, just enough to bleed a little and have her father see the red spot in her clothes.

"One of the few things I ask of you is to keep this house clean." Her father grabbed the back of her head and forced her to look to the sink, where a the few dishes that had been the dinner Rachel had prepared for her father's dinner had stacked up, his grip on her skull tightened. "If you want to stay in this house you will do as I say, if not, then I have no need of you." His breath stunk of bourbon but his voice was quiet in her ear, just a whisper, and the threat read loud and clear to Rachel. "You think I want to keep a worthless bitch like you around?" He shoved her forward into the wall and held her there, one hand still gripping the back of her head and his other pushed against her back, then he slammed her face into the wall, hard enough to make her vision blur and black spots to invade her eyes. Then he punched her in the kidney and tossed the girl to the ground as he walked away.

Rachel opened her eyes as her father voice rang in her head, Rachel felt the phantom pain of the attack all through her body, bringing a hand to her face as she checked for blood, knowing there was none but acting on reflex. Rachel closed her eyes and saw her father in her head, the quiet calm anger that could snap at any second.

Rachel got up and stripped off her tank top and underwear as she went into her bathroom, turning the shower on as hot as it would go, waiting for the water to warm Rachel found a small box hidden under her sink. She pulled a blade from the box and looked at it for a minute as the small room filled with steam, taking a deep breath Rachel put the blade against the skin of her hip and pushed down gently as she dragged it across her skin. Lines of red appeared where the blade had been, one at a time until seven fresh lines marked her hip and blood rolled down her leg. Rachel reveled in the feel of her blood flowing out of her as she bleed out the memory of her father's beating, and relished in the sweet sting of the open wounds; putting the blade in the sink Rachel got into the shower and went about getting ready for the day.

Exiting her room, Rachel wasn't startled by Noah's presence in her Kitchen, his head stuck under her sink looking for the problem. She just went to her cupboard and pulled out two granola bars and dropped one on the boys stomach.

"Good morning Noah."

"I can see up your skirt." Noah said instead of a greeting as he tore open the granola bar with a smirk on his face, Rachel knew he wasn't flirting, that would be gross.

"Yeah well, complain to the good will, they never have anything good in my size." Rachel took a bite of her own granola bar and grabbed a milk crate from the ground, she used it a step up most of time to reach think high up, and a bungee cord and moved over to her bike, strapping the milk crate to the back so she would have a place for her groceries after her trip to the store.

"If you would just ask my mom, I'm sure she would love to take you shopping Rach." Noah called from the Kitchen as he twisted a pipe back into place and stood up, testing the faucet. "Fixed it."

"Thank you Noah and you know I won't, your mom has enough on her plate without me taking up her time too." Rachel grabbed her bag and the money she would need for her trip to the store after school. "Let's just get moving, I have to talk to Coach Sylvester before classes start."

After the ride in to school Rachel parted ways with Noah and dropped off her bag with the books she didn't need for her first few classes, then made her way towards the Coaches office. Sylvester was the only person outside of the Puckerman's that knew about her situation. Rachel hadn't told the woman, but just as always, she just seemed to know everything, she even threatened to send her father to jail. But all Rachel had wanted was peace, and to be safe so Sylvester had done nothing but ask that Rachel check in with once a week, Rachel took the deal.

"Streisand, take a seat." Sue's track suit was red and black today and she had her glasses on as she wrote in her journal. "How is the life of poverty?"

"Fine, my kitchen sink broke again yesterday, but Noah fixed it this morning when he picked me up, I'm going grocery shopping after school for a few things I need, and the manager at The Dime said I could have a slot at the open mic night this Sunday so I could make a few extra bucks." Sue just took her glasses off and pulled a fifty out her desk then pushed it across the table top, Rachel wanted to argue but Sue starred her down, if there was one thing Rachel had learned, it was never to argue with Sue Sylvester. So Rachel just took the money and gripped it hard in her fist, fifty dollars was a lot for her, and she hated to admit that she needed it. "Thank you."

"What time is your slot on Sunday?"

"It's at ten, just after my shift ends." Sue nodded and made a note in her journal, Rachel wouldn't be surprised if the older woman showed up to show support in her own quiet, 'no one knowing she was there' kind of way.

"Frankenteen been giving you any trouble lately?" Finn had approached her the day before and told her he forgave her and that he thought they should be together again; Rachel wasn't surprised Sue knew about it, just that she wanted to talk about it.

"He has it in his head that we should go out again; it's not going to happen. He's no trouble and if he is I can handle him."

"Or you can get Puckerman to. Just be careful, it must be hard for someone with such a small brain to function with so little oxygen up that high." Rachel smiled at the dig and at Sue, the woman just nodded at the door, Rachel recognized her dismissal.

"Thank you again Coach, really." The bell rang then and Rachel left without another word, she wasn't sure why the Coach was helping her, or what she got out of it, but she was grateful to have another person on her side. And someone as powerful as Sue Sylvester was a wonderful ally to have.

* * *

"Hey Q, what's Berry doing coming out of Coaches offices?" Quinn heard her friend saddle up beside her and turned away from the retreating brunette to face her friends.

"I don't know." Quinn was frowning slightly as she looked back to her former Coaches door then back at her best friends. "But I've seen her going in there a few times since school started back up."

"While you were stalking her." Santana had a smirk on her face and shared the look with her girlfriend, but Brittany was still looking in the direction Rachel had gone, though she wasn't there anymore.

"I'm not stalking her." Quinn blushed slightly, so she knew Rachel's schedule and sometimes followed the girl to the café where she worked just to watch her, that wasn't creepy just… totally creepy and stalkerish.

"You have it so bad for her Q, you just need to make a move, it's getting pathetic to look at you." Quinn glared at the darker girl and crossed her arms under her chest.

"Like you where any different with Brittany when you weren't together."

"Yeah, but I got to make out with her." Santana pulled the taller blonde close to her and kissed her on her temple, this brought Brittany back from whatever world she had been at before and her smile was bright as she through her arms around her girlfriend.

"We need to be nicer to Rachel San, she has a secret. And not like a fun secret where there's candy and mermaids but a bad one that Coach and Puck know about and promised not to tell." Quinn's frown changed from angry to confused before she just looked concerned, if Quinn knew one thing for certain it was to trust Brittany about things, she was usually right.

"What do you mean Britts?" Brittany just shrugged, then the bell rang and the tall blonde cheerleader skipped off in the wrong direction of her class. Santana made eye contact with Quinn for a second then followed after Brittany, turning the girl around and leading her the right way. Quinn would find out what Rachel's secret was, if only for the reason that Quinn cared about her and Santana would help. The bell rang again and Quinn rushed off to her first class, Quinn smiled to herself softly and she jogged; Rachel would be there.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thank you so much for all the support! Seriously all the reviews and the alerts, you guys are awesome and I hope that you enjoy this chapter as much as you seemed to enjoy the last. This one is a little lighter than the last and there isn't so much Brittana, but don't worry, they will be back. Anyway please let me know what you think, reviews feed the plot bunnies. Have a good one. Ninja out. **

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Quinn watched Rachel all day, the two shared most of their classes together since both were honors students and the one that she didn't, Santana did. The two wanted to know what Rachel's secret was, Brittany didn't know anything other than it was bad and the tall girl's sneaking skills weren't as good as the other two thirds of the trio so she was mostly left out of it. Everything seemed normal all day, Rachel just seemed to go about her classes and avoided the known school bullies, Quinn hadn't rejoined the cheerio's at the beginning of the year along with Santana and Brittany so Quinn followed Rachel alone after school let out.

Rachel was taking her bike out of the back of Puck's truck, with some difficultly, as the truck's tailgate was at chest height for the small girl. But when she finally managed to get it down she just smiled and took off, Quinn had noticed the milk crate bungeed to the back and followed after her, wondering what she was doing, when Rachel stopped in front of the super market Quinn just rolled her eyes.

Quinn stayed in her car while Rachel shopped, wondering if what she was doing was considered a felony. During the summer Quinn had spent a lot of time alone, when she wasn't with Santana and Brittany, and she had come to the conclusion that she was also of the lady loving persuasion. She hadn't wanted to admit it at first, but the more she thought about it the more right it felt until she finally told her best friends. Santana had cried and kissed her on the mouth, Brittany just asked her how it had taken her so long to figure out. Quinn had only come out to her mom just before school had started, as to give her time alone to think about it, Judy had surprised her too and told her how proud she was of her and how far she had come.

Rachel came out of the store and loaded up her bike with the bags, Quinn was skeptical about how it would work, but the few bags that didn't fit in the milk crate, Rachel hung from the handle bars. Then Rachel was pedaling down the road and Quinn drove after her, she felt bad for not offering her a ride, but the girls bike would never fit in her small car so she tried to not think about it.

Quinn held back behind Rachel as the girl made her way home, which was very hard as the girl was on a bike and Quinn was driving. When the turn to where Quinn knew Rachel's street came up and the brunette didn't take it, Quinn frowned. Quinn hadn't ever followed Rachel home before, but everyone knew where the Berry's lived, so Quinn was confused when Rachel kept going until she tuned into an old apartment complex on the far edge of town. Quinn watched as Rachel dismounted her bike and carefully maneuvered it up two flights of stairs, Quinn could still see Rachel as the girl unlocked the door to an apartment and went inside, taking the bike with her.

Quinn sat confused for a few minutes, what was Rachel doing here, an elderly relative was out of the question as Quinn knew Rachel's only family was her fathers, maybe they had moved. But surly Rachel would have talked about it, and if Quinn remembered correctly one of the Berry's was a doctor, surly they could afford better than this dump. Then Rachel was coming back out the apartment, her grocery's and back park gone, along with the milk crate that had been strapped to her bike. Coming down the stairs Rachel did a double take in Quinn's direction so she ducked down.

"You know you're doing something wrong if you don't want to get caught." Quinn waited for a few minutes before peaking her head back up; Rachel had ridden away down the street already. Quinn didn't know what the other girl had seen, but if she saw the same car following after her it might scare her, and Quinn didn't want to do that, so she waited five minutes before driving to The Dimes, knowing that was the most likely place for Rachel to go.

Of course Rachel had noticed Quinn watching her, which wasn't new and had been going on since the start of the school year, but that only usually lasted through the school day. Today Rachel had seen Quinn follow her to the grocery store; she had thought she had lost the blonde on her way back home. But when Rachel came back out to head to work, Quinn was sitting in her car, then ducked down when she saw Rachel had seen her. But then Quinn hadn't moved to follow her to work. Rachel was waiting for the blonde to make her move; obviously she was planning something and Rachel was getting anxious waiting for it. Rachel had thought that even though she and Quinn were never very close, that they respected each other. The two had had their moments, and she though Quinn was past her bulling phase, but with the blonde practically stalking her, Rachel had to assume the worst.

* * *

Puck hadn't been able to pick Rachel up from work the night before, and it had been close to 11 before Rachel had gotten home. The groceries, which Rachel had just put in the fridge, needed to be put away and Rachel had done homework until nearly 2 am. Puck had a morning practice and wouldn't be able to drive her to school either, so Rachel had gotten very little sleep as she needed to wake up earlier than normal to accommodate or the bike ride to school. Puck met Rachel at her locker and smiled down at the girl as she put her bag away and took out her books.

"Morning Jew Babe, how's it going?"

"Quinn followed me home yesterday." Rachel was still facing her locker and didn't see Pucks smile turn into a deep frown. "She followed me from school, to the store, and Home; I think she even followed me to work Noah. It's starting to freak me out a little bit, she's been watching me since the beginning of the school year, I wish she would just get on with whatever prank she has planned and get it over with. I have bigger things to worry about than Quinn Fabray."

"Don't worry about her Rach, I'll talk to her, maybe figure out what's going on in that head of hers." Noah took a deep breath and looked over to where Quinn's locker was, and sure enough, there she was trying to hide that she had been watching them by hiding behind her locker door. He glared at her but then Rachel had a hand on his arm and he looked back down at her, there was something on her mind that she was trying to hide from him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Noah rose an eyebrow and starred the girl down; Rachel huffed and looked at her feet. "I don't know if I'm going to be able to make rent this month, I went through the bills and expenses last night, I'm going to be three hundred short if I don't make excellent tips this weekend. I had to have groceries, but even if I didn't have to eat I still would have been about two hundred short."

"Maybe you could talk to your manager at work Tom, have him give you an advance." Puck clenched his jaw, he knew that if Rachel lost her place that she would come and live with him, but he also knew how much Rachel didn't want to have to rely on anyone.

"I can't do that, business has been slow lately, which is way he started doing the open mic nights in the first place, Tom has been talking about cut backs and even the possibility of laying people off, if I ask for an advance he may let me go." Rachel shook her head as she held her books tighter to her chest. "I can't lose my job Noah, I need it."

"Okay, what about you building manager, you could talk to him, maybe he could give you an extension, I would go with you." Noah remembered the man who owned the building, he was an older man with no hair and a beer gut who only let Rachel rent from him because she was beautiful and young; dude was a pervert and Rachel hated dealing with him more than she had to, Noah wasn't even sure he was comfortable around the man. "Or, okay, rents not due until Sunday, you could talk to Sue, I'm sure she would help you, and I could talk to my mom, see if we have anything to spare. And I will be shaking down the losers; they always have money to spare for a good cause."

"I won't take your mother's money Noah, and you know that I hate that you're such a bully." The first bell rang and the two started walking down the hall, Noah wouldn't be leaving her side until he had to. "Sue already gave me a little money, and it didn't get spent yesterday so I won't ask her for more, I can't take advantage of her kindness more than I already am."

"You aren't taking advantage, if anything she would want to know about this. And if the nerds want to think I'm a bad guy that's fine as long as you're taken care of. You're family too Rach, and if you're still short after your set on Saturday then I'm telling my Mom, we have your back." Noah gave Rachel a quick side hug, then left to go to his own class, passing by Quinn who was looking at him with a furrowed brow and wide eyes, the boy glared at her, but wondered if she had heard them talking. He would take care of it later; he would take care of Rachel even if she didn't want him to.

* * *

Quinn couldn't take her eyes off the brunette all that morning, what she had overheard was running around in her brain starting fires and leading her places that she wasn't too sure about. Why would Rachel have to worry about making rent, or losing her job, didn't her dads make good money, but then why was Rachel living in a crappy apartment? But surely between the three of them they could make rent. And apparently Sue was in on whatever was going on, even giving Rachel money, which really blew Quinn's mind.

Lunch rolled around and Quinn's mind was still reeling, she really had no plausible conclusion for what she had heard, all the things she thought about were far too crazy, and just impossible. On her way to the cafeteria a hand shot out and pulled her into an empty classroom, ready to give whoever it was a death glare, Quinn turned and saw Puck standing there glaring down at her.

"What the hell Puckerman?" Quinn straightened out her shirt and brushed invisible lint from where Puck had grabbed her.

"You need to stop whatever it is you are doing right now." The serious tone in Puck's voice made Quinn stop and frown up at the boy. He was still glaring down at her and Quinn could see it in his eyes that he was dead serious about whatever it was he was talking about; only Quinn wasn't sure what that was.

"What am I doing then?" Quinn asked as she crossed her arms and rose an eye brow at the boy.

"You know what you're doing, and you need to leave Rachel out of it. Whatever plan you have cooking, she didn't do anything to you and you need to just leave her alone." Puck saw the confusion in Quinn's eyes, it was difficult to spot any type of emotion on the girls face most of the time, but Puck had gotten to know her, and he had learned a few of the more subtle quirks of the girls face.

"I'm not doing anything to her, and I don't have anything malicious in the works for her."

"Quinn you're practically stalking her, and it's starting to scare Rachel, if you didn't mean to do something horrible what are you doing following her around everywhere she goes?" Quinn took in a deep breath, of course Rachel had noticed her, and really, it couldn't be that hard to notice her in her car, Quinn had the only red VW Bug in Lima.

"It's not important okay, I don't have any big plans, and I'm not a threat so you can stop with the big brother act." Puck glared down at the blonde for a bit longer, then Quinn realized that this little interrogation could work both ways. "Why is Rachel worrying about making rent?" Puck's eyes got slightly wider; Quinn smiled to herself at catching him off guard. "Yeah, I heard you guys talk this morning, if you really wanted to keep something a secret you shouldn't talk about it in public. What's going on that she needs to live in that crap apartment and make rent, what about her father's?" It took Puck a second before his brain caught up with all the questions Quinn had spit out; then he was on the attack, Puck got into Quinn's face and Quinn was taken aback by how angry the usually nice boy looked.

"It's none of your concern, and you need to leave Rachel alone. Stop following her around, I respect you but Rachel is like my sister and if you hurt her we're done, understand." It was times like this that Quinn really respected Noah Puckerman, sure he was brash and a bully sometimes, but he was someone you wanted to have on your side. And apparently Rachel ranked over her in the boys mind, and while that hurt a little Quinn understood, the two had been best friends since long before she had even moved into town. "Now, tell me why you've been following her around, if I didn't know you any better I would think you had a crush on her."

"I don't have a crush on her." Quinn's voice was slightly higher than it should have been and her answer had been rushed out; Puck narrowed his eyes at the blonde, then grinned and started laughing.

"Oh my god, really?" Puck was all smiles now as Quinn blushed a deep red and ducked her head, how had he just guessed and then known, she wasn't helping herself now, but what could she do other than deny it. "I mean I had always suspected you a little less than straight when you didn't enjoy our time together, but Rachel, really?"

Quinn just glared up at the still laughing boy, her face was still bright red and she had crossed and re crossed her arms a few times, not knowing what to do or how to react. She had never thought that someone would just figure it out, in all her scenarios about coming out everyone was always shocked and silent. Noah's laughing at her threw her off. Then he stopped laughing and smiled down at her, Noah wasn't known for being sensitive but he did have his moments.

"Look, first of all you need to stop being a creep, Rachel thinks you're coming after her, hence me here threatening you, you just need to talk to her. If you seriously care about her and are trust worthy enough then you may just have a chance." Quinn looked confused up at Puck, surly he wasn't giving her advice after threatening her, and as far as Quinn knew Rachel was straight, she had no chance at all. "Rachel is more about falling in love with the person and not so much about the sex, I mean she's never been with a girl before but she's never been shy about voicing her opinions about someone, if you know what I mean." Puck wiggled his eyes brows and Quinn furrowed her own, that was Puck speak for they had talked about girls, and Quinn couldn't help but feel a little angry at all the girls Rachel thought about, even if she didn't know who they were.

"I'm not confirming or denying anything, but just, please don't tell Rachel." Puck snorted down at the former cheerleader but nodded his head. He wouldn't bring it up with Rachel; she had enough to worry about without Quinn and her crush, and as long as Quinn wasn't planning anything bad he didn't care to much about what she did. The more Puck thought about it the more the idea of Rachel with the blonde seemed like an okay idea, Quinn was a lot smarter than Finn, and in his opinion a lot nicer to look at, plus there was how she always had her friends backs, her and Santana may not have the most conventional of friendships but they always looked out for each other, and Brittany. Puck shoved his hands in his pockets and walked towards the door, his part was done here.

"See you around Blondie, remember what I said." Puck said it playfully, but Quinn knew that his threat still held, and while he knew Quinn had a crush that didn't mean the girl could continue to scare Rachel.

Quinn nodded and watched as the boy left the room, while it was unnerving that the best friend of her crush knew about it, what Quinn had really gotten out of the conversation was that Rachel's secret was big and the only way she was going to find anything out was to talk to Rachel directly. Quinn left the classroom to go and find Santana, she needed to talk out what had just happened, maybe the feisty Latina would give her the courage to confront Rachel, or maybe Santana would offer to do it.

* * *

Glee had just ended and Puck and Rachel where walking out to his truck, the boy had offered to give her a ride to work, and he was being curiously silent. Rachel wanted to let him come to her about his problems, but she had never been very good about keeping her mouth shut.

"What's wrong Noah?" Puck looked down at his friend, he wondered if she had ever suspected that Quinn liked her, then he dismissed it immediately. Rachel had never believed that anyone really cared for her other than him. Puck remembered when Finn had first started to show interest in her, he remembered how thrown Rachel had been, how confused at first, then just overjoyed and wanting to make sure everything was perfect, that she was perfect, it had crushed her when Finn had left her for Quinn, and it had cemented her thoughts that no one could ever really love her.

"I talked to Quinn at lunch." Even if he couldn't tell her everything, he would defiantly tell her that Quinn wasn't planning on hurting her. "She not planning anything bad and she's going to stop following you around."

"Thank you for speaking with her Noah, I would have gotten around to eventually but Quinn is just so intimidating, even if she isn't on the Cheerios anymore." Puck helped her scale the side of his truck and the two took off towards The Dimes. "Did you happen to figure out why she was following me?"

"She wouldn't say." Puck held back his grin as Rachel frowned and concentrated on her thoughts. The ride was silent until the two arrived at the café, then Puck turned to Rachel and smiled lightly at her. "I wouldn't worry too much about it; I think she's mostly harmless. Just get in there and don't give manager man any reason to fire you. I have to watch the brat tonight since Ma has the late shift at the hospital, so it'll be me and her picking you up later."

"You don't have to pick me up, I can bike back home, then you don't have to bring Hailey with you."

"She wants to see you; it's been to long since you two have spent any time together without mom around. She sees you like an older sister and there are something's you only talk about with your sister." Puck waved her off, and laughed as Rachel jumped down from his truck. "I'll see you later Rach."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: So sorry about the wait, but I've never been very consistent about things. I'll try to be better, I promise. So I stick pretty close to Puck in this chapter, and there isn't any Quinn at all. Anyway, I have not forgotten about you and I am working on the next chapter of Pack Life as you read this, I also have something new in the works so be on the lookout for that as I'm very proud of it. As always, I hope this sees you all well, and please let me know what you think, I love hearing from you guys, and I hope to make up for my absence. Until next time.**

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Football practice had just let out and Puck was making his way to his truck with his gym bag in hand. It was a Friday and his clothes were stinking up his locker almost to the point where he was afraid to open it. There wasn't a game that night and Puck was going to head down to Burt's auto shop and see if he could make a few bucks for the afternoon. He had just thrown his duffle in the back when he heard someone calling his name, turning around Puck saw Santana marching towards him.

"Puckerman, hold up." Santana made the final few steps towards him, then took a breath as she crossed her arms and leaned against his truck. "So, Q told me about your little conversation earlier."

"Really." Puck crossed his own arms and leaned against the car parked next to his truck, silently thankful when an alarm didn't go off; and while he was outwardly cool, Puck had a hard time believing Quinn would tell Santana what had happened.

"Yep, Q's like my friggin bestie, chick tells me everything." Santana rose an eyebrow then, telling the boy without words that of course she knew about Quinn's, fondness, for Rachel. "Now, I just want to know what the big deal is with Rachel. She's got some secret apartment that she told nobody about, and she's worried about making rent or something; what's going on?"

"It's none of your concern, and none of Quinn's, so just forget about it." Puck stood straight then and looked down at Santana, the two had been friends a long time, and he knew her well enough to know that when Santana wanted something, she usually got it. "Seriously San, you need to just leave this alone, trust me." Then he got into his truck and speed off, he wasn't going to give her anything, and while there were two ways that could turn out, he hoped that she would just leave it alone but knew that she wouldn't.

Puck made it to the shop in no time at all, and as always, Burt was more than happy to let Puck spend his afternoon helping out. Puck thought that maybe Burt knew about his reputation for getting into trouble, and that if he had something constructive to do than maybe he wouldn't get into so much trouble, and as Puck lay under an old mini-van he couldn't help but agree. Listening to the laughter coming from over Puck's shoulder at the Toyota Carolla that Burt and Kurt were fixing together, Puck couldn't help but think about how lucky the other boy was to have such a good father when he had no father at all, and Rachel had two terrible ones.

Noah was only six when he first meet the Berry's at Temple, the two men were greeted far from warmly, but most just left them to their own devices, his Mother was another story. Maria Puckerman had lead Noah by the hand, holding a barley year old Hailey in her arm, and marched them all over to greet them. Rachel had looked so small that day, his mother thought she was years younger than she really was. The men were polite and kind, but there was an air about them that made Noah uncomfortable and Rachel had barley said a word the whole time.

It was later that same year that Noah first noticed that things were off in the Berry household. Rachel's father Hiram, the shorter of the two who had short brown hair and glasses and was obviously Rachel biological father was barely ever around. Rachel would tell Noah about how her Dad was a Lawyer and had to fly around the world to save innocent people from bad guys, Rachel made him sound like a superhero. Rachel's other father, Leroy, who Rachel called Daddy, was a Doctor and when one father was home it seemed like the other father was always away. Noah liked it best when Leroy was away, spending a week living in the hospital, while Hiram was home.

In the first few years Noah knew Rachel nothing seemed off other than that her father's seemed to switch off living with her, then just after Rachel's tenth birthday, Noah started noticing bruises on her body, Rachel would always play it off on how clumsy she was, falling down stairs or walking into tables, but once Noah saw a bruise on Rachel's arm that was hand shaped, and told his mother immediately. Maria Puckerman had sat Rachel down and looked her over, then she had called the police.

The investigation took months, but they never seemed to find anything against either of the men, and once the charges were dropped and the police stopped looking into their family, Rachel got clumsy again, only now bones were being broken. Sometimes Rachel would show up at his house late at night, throwing stones at his window, with a new bruise and Noah would go down a silently let her in and lead her to his room where he would curl up around her and hold her as she silently cried herself to sleep.

The second time Maria Puckerman called the police about Rachel she got a call from the Mayor's office. Apparently Hiram Berry was a close personal friend and he would not stand for his name being dragged through the mud when he knew that nothing was the matter, and that if it happened again he would make a call to his friend on the hospital board about her lies. That was the first night he saw Rachel beg, he could only try and hold in his tears as he watched Rachel plead with his mother that she wasn't worth losing her job over, that she would be fine and that everything would be okay, she was only twelve. After that, sometimes Rachel would spend entire weekends at his house, and once she stayed over for the whole week of spring break.

It had just been last year that Rachel had left home, she had snuck out in the dead of night with as much as she could carry then collapsed against his front door, it had been a particularly bad night, and all she had told him was she just couldn't do it anymore and that even the thought of another day in that house was unbearable. She had left the Puckerman's not even a week later, she had had money saved up and a job lined up, all that was missing was for her to be desperate enough to brave the rundown apartment complex on the bad side of town, she got the apartment by wearing a short skirt, Noah was convinced of it. Puck was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard his phone go off, the opening bars of Don't Rain on my Parade meant it was Rachel.

"Sup, Rach." Puck leaned up against the side of the minivan and wiped his hands on his jeans as he held is phone between his shoulder and his ear.

"Hey I was just making sure it was still okay that I have dinner at your's tomorrow and that I can still use you washer and dryer." Rachel paused for a second and Noah could hear the wind blowing from her end and knew that she was on her way to work. "I didn't want to assume."

"Rachel, you know that if Ma could convince you, then you'd be living with us and would be having dinner there every night." On the other end of the Phone, Puck heard Rachel release a small breathy laugh. "And yes, Dinner is still on for you to come over tomorrow, and I'm even doing Laundry tonight so that the machines are free and empty for you tomorrow. We're having veggie casserole in case you were wondering."

"I was actually." Puck heard the squeak of the breaks on Rachel's bike and made a note that the next time he was over there that he would take a look at them. "I have to go, but I'll talk to you later."

"Yup, have a good shift Rach." Puck ended the call then and stood to go and grab a water bottle from the fridge, thinking about how really things weren't too bad for his friend right now, he just had to find a way to keep things running smoothly.

* * *

Rachel was only half an hour from getting to go home and getting some sleep, she had done well on tips, but when her manager Tom motioned that she had a table and Rachel turned around, she saw Santana and Brittany sitting her section; the latter grinning at her and the former smiling brightly. Rachel just sighed and pulled the note book from her apron and walked towards them.

"Hey you guys, what can I get started for you?" The grin on Santana's face only seemed to turn ever more sinister, but Brittany seemed distracted by the pictures in the menu.

"I'll have a diet coke, a caeser salad with lit dressing, and a bowl of breadsticks."

"Santana we don't serve breadsticks here, you know that." Rachel kept her smile in place but turned to Brittany. "What about you Britt?"

"I want a root beer float and a piece of strawberry cheese cake please, Rachel."

"I'll be right back with you drinks." Rachel practically ran from the table, she was sure that Santana was going to make a fuss. When the drinks where prepared and Rachel finally had no more excuses to not go back to the cheerleaders table she just plastered on a smile. "Here you go." She was about to turn and make another run for it when Santana grabbed her elbow.

"Slow your pint sized roll Berry, this is a Diet Coke, I asked for Diet Pepsi, take it back." Rachel frowned at the girl and pulled her note book from the front of her apron where it clearly said Diet Coke.

"I'm pretty sure you said Coke Santana, I wrote it down."

"But I know I said Pepsi, so you wrote it down wrong and unless you want to get your manager involved, you'll take it back and do it right." Rachel just sighed and took the glass back and switched it out for one that was Diet Pepsi, and also grabbed the salad and dessert for the girls at the same time, one less trip.

"Okay, here's your Diet Pepsi, and you Caeser salad with lit dressing and you strawberry cheesecake Britts, enjoy." Then as Rachel turned and tried to leave, Santana grabbed her elbow again.

"But Brittany asked for blue berry cheesecake Berry, I think you're messing this stuff up on purpose just to mess with us." Rachel sighed, and put her note book away before crossing her arms protectively across her middle.

"Alright Santana cut the BS, what is it that you want?" Rachel snuck a glance at the clock, only sixteen minutes until she could leave, and stick someone else with the pair of cheerleaders. But Santana just smirked up at the girl.

"I want to know what's going on with you that's so important that you sick Puck on Me and Quinn. What's going on that has you living in some shoe box apartment on the other side of town? And Britt and I are going to sit here and make as much trouble for you until you tell us or we get you fired, your choice." Rachel just stared down at the girl for a minute before she clenched her jaw and blinked her eyes slowly.

"Look Santana, I know this may not be something that you understand or accept, but the world does not revolve around you and what you want. And you can make as much trouble for me as you want but I need this job, and if you are the reason that I lose it than I won't need to sick Puck on you, which by the way, I didn't even know he talked to you. And the only reason he talked to Quinn was because she was stalking me and I was scared, so I told my best friend." Rachel took another deep breath before starring into the other brunette eyes. "I don't know why you think my life is any of your business, but you just need to get over that, because I'm not telling you anything. Have a nice meal."

As Rachel walked away she heard Brittany say, "That wasn't very nice San, Strawberry is my favorite." Rachel couldn't help but smile at that, at least Brittany seemed to not be horrible.

Rachel hide in the back for the rest of her shift and helped out around the kitchens, she washed dishes and tossed salads and generally seemed to make the cooking staff laugh when she told then she had been a chief in a past life and was better than all of them. When her shift was over, Rachel counted her tips and found that she was only fifty dollars short of her rent now; it had been a pretty good night for her, despite Brittana crashing in at the end. Rachel moved to unlock her bike but stopped when she noticed that Santana and Brittany where sitting on the hood of the car directly in front of it.

"Look, I know I'm a bitch, but your silly little bike will fit in the back of my SUV, why don't you let me and Britt give you a lift back to your dump to make up for earlier." Santana looked slightly red in the face, and Brittany just clapped and smiled, Rachel knew immediately that it had been the blonde girl's idea and she knew Santana could never say no to her.

"Thanks but I'll be fine, I do this all the time. And really I should have expected you to make an appearance after Noah's talk with Quinn, you guys are really close." Rachel sighed as she then unlocked her bike, looking for anyway to avoid looking at the other girls. "And thanks for not getting me fired, I really do need this job."

"That's just what I can't wrap my head around, I don't know if you know this Berry but your Dads are a Doctor and a Lawyer, they should be able to buy you a car just as nice as mine instead of this old bike you ride around everywhere, and you shouldn't even need a job. I know Doctor Berry still works at the hospital, because my Dad sees him there all the time. What's going on?"

"I appreciate your concern, but it's really none of you business and I don't want your help." Rachel through one of her legs over her bike then and made eye contact with Santana one more time. "So please just leave me alone." Then Rachel rode off into the night, Santana watching the glowing yellow hazard light fading in the distance.

"San, maybe we should just leave her alone. She really doesn't seem to want any help." Brittany was looking after Rachel too, and even though she wanted to know what was going on, she had a feeling that as soon as she did, she would wish that she didn't anymore.

"But that's just it, Berry will blabber on about anything; the fact that she's so closed about this means that even though she says she doesn't want any help, I'm guess that she really needs it."

* * *

Rachel had just pulled her bike up the stairs to her apartment and was fishing in her pocket to find her keys. When she finally managed to get them out, and looked up, she saw an envelope with her name on it taped to her door. Rachel was hesitant at first, it could be from anyone, it could be from her fathers. Rachel knew that they knew she was still in town and talked about her as if she was still living under their roof to their friends, even though not even they still lived together. But Rachel's blood went cold in her veins at the thought that they knew where she was down to her apartment number, gingerly Rachel pulled the envelope from the door and handled it as if it would explode if wrongly handled and then unlocked her door.

Rachel left her bike outside for a minute while she put the envelope and her bag down on the table before maneuvering the thing inside and closing and locking the door again; not before scanning the area for anything out of the ordinary. Rachel picked up her phone then and pushed two; Noah picked up on the second ring.

"Hey Rach, how was work?" He sounded tired, and Rachel could picture him in his garage laying back on his work out bench with his weights scattered around him.

"Well, Santana and Brittany showed up and tried to start something." Rachel heard him suck in a breath and she knew he was about to interrupt her, but she powered through. "Don't worry, I took care of it. She ever offered to give me a ride home after to make up for threatening to get me fired, but I turned her down."

"Good, I don't even like the idea that Quinn knows where you live. Imagine if Santana knew, that's just bad news waiting to happen."

"I know, so anyway, I got home and there was an envelope tapped to my door with my name on it." Rachel paused, and Noah kept silent, begging her to tell him what was in it. "I haven't opened it yet, I'm a little afraid and I thought I'd call you."

"Do you want me to come over, I could stay the night and if whoever it is comes back I can beat them over the head with your baseball bat." Noah had given her the bat as soon as she had moved in alone, she hated that it's lone purpose was for violence, but then Noah told her to think about it more like protection, and for her to think of it like him when he can't be there.

"I don't want to put you out." Noah took that as of much of a invitation as he was going to get and stood up, just now noticing that he was sweaty and probably smelly, Rachel wouldn't thank him for that.

"Look, I need to shower first, but I'll pick up pizza on the way so you don't have to worry about feeding me." The boy knew that the second he suggested staying over the small girls mind had gone straight to how she was going to make sure he was fed. Rachel always tried to give him a little something every time he was there, Noah thought it was Rachel's small way of paying him back for all the things he did for her.

"You don't have to bring anything Noah, I just went shopping, I have those chips that you like so much." Noah wanted to scold the girl, the chips he liked the most where the ones that Rachel hated; he needed to tell her not to waist her money on him. "I just don't want to be alone tonight."

"I'll be over in ten, you sit tight."

Rachel sat on the couch with her bat in her hands for three minutes before she decided that she was being ridiculous. Rachel put the bat down beside the couch, close enough to not have to reach very far for, but she wasn't clutching the thing like her life depended on it anymore either, before she pulled her homework from her bag and tried to focus on anything but the small white envelope sitting not even four feet from her.

When the keys jiggled in the front door Rachel jumped about three feet in the air, a real feet for someone only 5"2', but then Noah was pushing his way through with his back pack slung over his shoulder and a pizza box in his hand and Rachel felt very foolish. Noah looked over at her and grinned when he saw the bat had somehow magically found its way back into her hands, Rachel looked down at the things then and scowled at it, like it had been the one to make her hold on to it.

"Nice to see you too Rach." Puck put the pizza down before he moved around the table to the couch and sat down heavily next to his friend. "I got the half veggie that you like." Rachel pulled the pizza box open, then grinned back at her friend.

"You also got half bacon cheeseburger, can you imagine the look of the guy that put this together." Rachel and Puck laughed slightly before each pulled a piece out of the box. Puck eyed the envelope that still sat untouched on the other side of the table as he shoved his third piece in his mouth.

"So, it was just taped to the door, nobody was around?" Rachel nodded slightly as her eyes darted to it as if it may spontaneously combust. "Did you talk to the building manager, or your neighbors, see if they saw anyone?"

"The Clyde's next door are the only neighbors that I talk to and they're gone for the weekend; they left this afternoon. And you know I don't talk to the building manager unless I absolutely have to." Puck nodded then and scooped up the envelope.

"Well let's see what's inside then, shall we?"

Puck ripped the top open and diped his hand inside without thinking, but then the boy paused before slowly pulling out a large stack of money. Puck looked back in the envelope before putting the now empty thing down and counting the money aloud. It was in mostly twenties and fifties, but there was a thousand dollars total, and when Puck was finish the boy didn't notice as both he and Rachel pushed their hands through their hair at the same time with similar looks of shook on their faces. Then Rachel picked up the envelope before letting it float to the floor.

"There's no note."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: So this chapter did not turn out like I thought it would, though I do like that Quinn and Brittany decided to crash. Anyway, yay for a full week of successful schedule keeping! Hoping I didn't just jinx myself and will continue with it. I don't know how many of you read my other stuff, but I'm going to tell you anyway so deal with it. My decided schedule is Pack Life Mondays, Defeated Wednesdays, and Flightless Bird Fridays; so cross your fingers that that continues to happen and isn't a fluke. I hope you liked this chapter (Not to confidant so please be kind and rewind), and please tell me what you think; hearing from you guys really helps me out with the inspiration thing. Ninja out.**

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Puck had done as he had promised and stayed the night on Rachel's couch after the pair could not figure out who had sent the money. The only clue that they had to go one was that the person who had left it had written her name on the front of the envelope, but neither Puck nor Rachel recognized the handwriting. They also knew that this mystery person had known where Rachel truly lived, and possibly that she had needed money. And while that narrowed the list down to only a few people, neither of them could see anyone leaving a thousand dollars in cash out where anyone could take it.

Early the next morning Puck woke up to the sounds of Rachel's shower running, the boy sat up and looked at the envelope again, as if it would just give up who had left it if he glared at it long enough. Noah got up and made his way over to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water as he looked out the window toward the back of the apartment complex. The knock on the door made him almost drop his glass, the boy stood shocked for a second with a furrowed brow, surly the knock he had just heard was an illusion, he was the only person who ever came over to Rachel's and the rent wasn't due until the next day so it definitely wasn't the building manager. The knock came again and Puck put his glass down on the counter before he made his way over to the door and looked through the eye hole. Puck stepped back then, flabbergasted as a dripping wet Rachel, clad in only a too large tee shirt with her towel in hand as she dried her hair, came out into the room with an equally confused look on her face.

"Did I just hear a knock on the door?" Noah nodded but offered no other answer. Rachel huffed then and put a hand on her hip while letting her towel rest on one of her shoulders. "Are you going to answer it?" When Noah didn't move, Rachel stepped up beside him and shoved the large boy out of the way, Rachel stood on her tip toes then as she peered out the eye hole, then stepped back quickly and threw the door open. "Brittany, what are you doing here?"

"I got lost while walking Lord Tubbington." Rachel only noticed the fat cat once Brittany brought attention to it, but really the small brunette wasn't sure how she had missed the thing before. "Do you think I could use your phone to call Santana? Mine fell in the lake." Brittany fished around on her pocket then and pulled out her water logged phone, Rachel wasn't sure how Brittany had gotten to her apartment from the lake; they were on opposite sides of town. "She usually calls me when she wakes up, but since I couldn't answer, she's probably worried about me, she might have called the army to find me."

"Uh, sure Britt, why don't you come in." Puck had stuck his head out the door while Rachel was talking to Brittany, and when he made eye contact with her again and subtly shook his head, she knew that the other two thirds of the unholy trinity weren't around, and Brittany had legitimately gotten lost, Rachel just wasn't sure how the other girl had know that this was her apartment. "Britt, how did you know to knock on my door?"

"Sometimes my feet just take me places that I should go." Brittany shrugged as she pulled her cat into the small apartment and looked around. Rachel closed the door behind her and watched as Brittany scooped up her cat into her arms and took a set on of the stools that Puck had stolen from the choir room and smiled at them. "Q said that she followed you home the other day but she wouldn't say where too. Do you really live here Rachel?"

"Uh…" Rachel made eye contact with Puck briefly but then Rachel took a deep breath and looked back at the blonde sitting in her home, she knew the other girl didn't mean any harm, that even if Brittany said something hurtful, it wasn't because she had meant it to be hurtful, and Rachel felt like even if it was a terrible idea, that if she asked Brittany not to tell, then she wouldn't. "Yeah, I live here Brittany."

"Does Puck live here too?" Brittany had her head tilted to one side and had a small crinkle in her brow, Rachel looked over at her best friend then and saw he was only in his boxers, and she was only in a tee shirt, and blushed deeply.

"No, he just slept over, on the couch, because something weird happened last night and I didn't want to be here alone." Rachel had rushed it out, and she knew it sounded like a lie, but that's really what had happened and if Brittany thought something else had happened then it didn't show on her face.

"So this is like, your guy's secret club house or something?" Brittany's smile only seemed to get bigger at the thought as Puck moved to where he had put his pants and pulled them on before pulling his phone out of the pocket and handing it to the happy blonde.

"I guess you could call it that, but please don't tell Santana about it. She'll tell Quinn, and then the world and everything will be ruined." Brittany frowned slightly at that, but when Lord Tubbington jumped from her lap and onto the couch next to where Puck was sitting and made himself comfortable, the smile spread on her face again.

"Okay, but can I be in your secret club too? I'll be a good club member I promise." Rachel and Puck looked at each other then and they both shrugged.

"Sure Britt, you can be in the club." Rachel's smile was soft as she watched the blonde girls face light up.

"Sweet!" Brittany through her hands up in the air, but then it was like a she realized something and looked confused back at the pair. "But if I can't tell Santana where I am, how is she going to come find me and take me home?"

"I'll drive you home Britt, I'm taking Rachel to work in a little bit anyway before I head home. Your house is on the way." Both girls smiled at Noah then, and he felt very proud of himself, he should get a medal or something.

"Cool, thanks Puck." Brittany looked down at the phone in her hands then before adding. "I should really call Santana now." Rachel and Puck just nodded to the girl and Rachel motioned that she was going to go and put some cloths on and finish getting ready for work. Puck scratched Lord Tubbington behind the ears as he waited for Brittany to be done with his phone and listened to half of the conversation. "Morning San, it's me… yeah this is Pucks phone… no I got lost walking Tubbs and I found Puck and Rachel secret club house, they totally let me join… I can't tell you that San, that's why it's called a secret club…Pucks going to drive me home after he drops Rachel off at work… he spent the night. Do you think they'd let me come to the next sleep over if I asked nice San…I could ask but I don't think you meet the requirements to join…that wasn't a very nice thing to say San…Hi Q!... no it's a secret…I have to go but I'll talk to you later and tell you how I totally saw Rachel in only a wet tee shirt, Bye guys."

"Really Britt, you had to add that about Rae in her tee shirt?" Puck rose an eyebrow at the blonde girl, but Brittany just smiled wide as she shrugged.

"Q always forgets what we're talking about when we talk about Rachel, and she had gone all serious detective mode on me, and that Q's no fun." Rachel walked out then, pulling a large duffle bag behind her. "What's in there?"

"Dirty clothes, I don't have a washing machine, so Puck's mom is going to do my laundry while I'm at work." Brittany just nodded as if that was the most obvious answer in the world. Rachel was stunned that the girl hadn't asked any questions. Not once had the blonde even looked like she wanted to ask why she was living alone, she had just accepted it and moved on. Maybe it would be alright having Brittany around. Rachel dumped her bag near the front door and pulled her hair over one shoulder and started braiding it, it wasn't quiet dry, and Rachel liked the way her hair looked after letting it dry in a braid. Then she looked at the clock on her phone and back at Puck as she moved into the kitchen and pulled three granola bars from a cupboard, throwing one and Puck and Brittany before saying. "I think we should get going if I don't want to be late, and please put your shirt on Noah."

"You know you like it?" Puck had shoved the whole bar into his mouth before pulling his shirt over his head and picking up the heavy cat and handing him over to Brittany. "And you can totally come to the next sleep over Britt, the three of us would be so hot together."

"Noah! Don't be gross!" Rachel slapped the boy hard on the stomach, but Brittany just smiled.

"We totally would be." Noah laughed loudly at that and Rachel blushed a deep red.

* * *

Rachel was sitting on the curb in front of The Dimes Café. Tom, her manager had said that since there were so few people coming in that he hadn't needed as many waitresses and that she could head home for the day. As much as Rachel really hadn't wanted to be there, she did need the money and didn't want to miss an opportunity to make it, but Tom had insisted and told her to enjoy her Saturday. So Rachel had texted Noah, but he was changing the oil in his truck and it would take him a bit longer to get there than normal, so here she was. A car pulled into the space beside her, and when Rachel looked up; Quinn was getting out of her car and frowning down at her.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Quinn walked over to the brunette and sat down on the curb next to her.

"My manager said I could go home early, but Noah drove me, he's on his way." Rachel didn't look at the blonde beside her as she spoke, instead chose a spot on the asphalt and stared at it.

"Oh, I could drive you home if you want." Rachel did look up at Quinn then, and frowned.

"But you just got here, aren't you meeting someone or something?" Quinn looked slightly uncomfortable for a second before it faded, and then it was Quinn's turn to stare at the asphalt. It clicked in Rachel's head then, and she nodded once. "You came here to stalk me some more."

"I'm not stalking you!" Quinn's head snapped up at that, then she blushed and put her head in her hands as she took a deep breath. Rachel just watched, as the strong girl that she thought she knew crumbled away and someone else took her place. Quinn looked back up at Rachel with unguarded eyes and slightly pink cheeks. "I guess I have been following you around though, and I'm sorry if that scared you. I have just been trying to find a time when I could talk to you and I just seem to have lost all my courage along with my cheerleading uniform."

"Quinn." Rachel took one of Quinn's hands from her lap and clutched it in her own while looking Quinn straight in the eye with a caring smile on her face. "You are one of bravest people I know, and if you wanted to talk, all you had to do was ask." Quinn smiled back at Rachel then and tried not to think about the fact that Rachel Berry was holding her hand. "What did you want to talk with me about?"

"I mostly wanted to apologize." Quinn's eyes strayed from Rachel's then, and down to their joined hands. "I have been so terrible to you, for years, but you have never been anything less than nice to me."

"That's not true and you know it, I did steal your boyfriend Quinn." Quinn smirked then and met Rachel's eyes again.

"I actually count that as a favor now, Finn was never a very good boyfriend, and if anything you freed me of him." Rachel let out a loud laugh at that and Quinn's smile grew wider at the beautiful sight before her.

"That's not a very nice thing to say Quinn Fabray." Rachel eyes had lit up and to Quinn, the girl looked to be glowing, she tried to ignore the feeling of butterflies in her stomach and stop her hands from sweating with shear will power; it felt so natural around Rachel, and Quinn hated herself for fighting herself for so long when she could have had this.

"But you have to admit that it's true; don't think I haven't noticed that you guys have broken up, again." Quinn paused then; if this was her one chance to talk to Rachel then she did not want them to talk about Finn Hudson. "Seriously though Rachel, I am so sorry for everything that I have done to you. You didn't deserve any of it, and I feel terrible for trying to be someone in your life that brought you down, you don't need that."

"Thank you." Rachel didn't know what else to say, when Quinn's harassment was at its worst was also the time that her time with her father's was at its worst, everything had been terrible, and Rachel's life had never had a lower point. "I guess my only question is why? Why did you focus on me so much them, and why are you choosing to apologize for it now?"

"That is a hard question, but I guess the reason why I picked on you so much was because I was so jealous of you."

"I'm nothing to be jealous of Quinn."

"But you are, you are so sure of yourself, you know exactly where you want to be, and you know how to get yourself there. You don't care what people think of you, but care about everyone you meet. You have these great loving fathers, and you are so proud to be their daughter." Rachel let go of Quinn's hand then, and looked away from the blonde hoping that Noah would come soon. "Rachel you where everything I wanted to be and had everything I wanted to have and the only way I knew how to react was to lash out and bring you down to my level, and I am so sorry for that. I want us to start over, I would really like to be your friend Rachel, if you would let me."

"I would like that." Rachel's voice was thick as she responded, confusing Quinn, but when Rachel looked back at her and she had tears in her eyes Quinn put a hand on the other girls arm.

"What's wrong?" Rachel shook her head hard from side to side them and blinked before answering.

"Nothing." It was ironic to Rachel, that one of the reasons that Quinn couldn't have been her friend was because of how she projected her relationship with her Fathers, that because she had been able to act like everything was so perfect at home, that a girl like Quinn Fabray was so jealous that she had to make her life miserable. A truck pulled up in front of Rachel then and Puck hopped out and walked up to the pair.

"Hey Rach, sorry about taking so long; I wasn't expecting you to call."

"Its fine Noah, I wasn't expecting to call." Noah looked from Rachel then to Quinn who was standing awkwardly to the side as she tried to not look like she was looking at Rachel's butt.

"Quinn, what are you doing here?" Puck was smirking at the girl as she caught his eye and blushed.

"She was just going into the Café." Rachel looked to Quinn then and pulled her pen and notepad that she took orders with from her pocket and wrote her number down on it before ripping out the page and handing it over to the other girl. "Call me, and we'll talk some more okay."

"Sure." Quinn stared wide eyed at the neat handwriting of Rachel Berry for a second before looking up at Puck who was wiggling his eyebrows at her. Rachel had already made her way to the passenger side of the truck and was scaling the side when Quinn called to her again. "Talk to you later Rachel." Puck smirked at her again before he also got into his truck and the pair drove off. Quinn made sure they were out of site before throwing her hands up in the air and yelling, "I got her number!" Quinn was in the middle of doing her happy dance when she turned and noticed that all the people in the Café were staring at her. "I don't even care if you think I'm a freak, I got her number!" Quinn squealed like a little girl one more time before heading to her car and calling Santana.

* * *

"So what did Quinn really want?" Noah was still grinning, but Rachel was in an entirely different place.

"She's been following me around because she's wanted to apologize to me but hasn't known how. She wants to start over, to be friends." Noah's grin turned into a full smile. "She told me that the reason she always picked on me was because she was jealous of everything I had. I have nothing to be jealous of Noah, everything I projected about my fathers at school was a lie, and I could have had Quinn's friendship without it." Noah's smile slide from his face at that, he probably should have asked that question before he had let Quinn talk to Rachel, but he hadn't thought of it.

"Rachel, Quinn was going to pick on you no matter the reason." Rachel looked him in the eye then, and he only saw how glassy the girl's eyes looked. "Quinn was really angry at the world for a long time Rach, and there was nothing you could have done, one way or another, to make her like you before she pulled her head out of her fine ass." Rachel smiled slightly at that and Noah let a smirk fall onto his own face. "You have to admit she had a nice ass, hell Quinn has a nice everything."

"She is the prettiest girl I've ever met." Rachel's voice was soft and Noah had to focus to hear her, but what she said sounded rehearsed, like she had said it somewhere before. "But she's so much more than that." The two spent the rest of the ride in silence, but when they pulled up to the Puckerman house a short girl came sprinting out to greet them.

"Rachel, I have to talk to you!" Hailey Puckerman looked just like her mother, her dark brown hair was lightly curled and her hazel eyes where brighter than Noah's, the girl was only thirteen but whenever Rachel was around it always seemed to be the end of the world. "Toby Gunderson kissed me after school today and all the older kids saw and started laughing, my life it over!"

"What! You mean little Toby Gunderson from down on 49th street? I need to go and have a word with that punk. If he thinks he can just kiss my little sister, then he's wrong." Noah had come around the side of the truck and was fuming at what he heard, but the site of this version of her best friend always put a smile on Rachel's face.

"It's okay Noah, I already did that, I think I broke his nose actually, but he's gross and everyone's making fun of me now." Noah looked slightly proud for a second then Mrs. Puckerman was coming out of the house and was yelling at the three of them.

"What is this, come inside before I lock all of you out here since you like it so much?" Rachel walked over to the woman and hugged her before moving to go inside; the two younger Puckermans following after her with soft apologies to their mother as they passed. Once all of them where inside, Maria Puckerman moved back through the house to the kitchen where she was fixing dinner, Rachel followed after her.

"Thanks again for doing my laundry Maria; I can finish up now that I'm here." The duffle that Rachel had sent with Noah had easily been three loads worth of dirty cloths and now that she wasn't at work anymore she could do it herself.

"You don't need to thank me dear, you know I would rather have you here anyway, this way I get to at least feel a little less than useless." Rachel moved over to the basket of warm dry clothes then and smiled over at the woman.

"At least let me fold."

"Fine, but you have to look like you hate it." Rachel got into character immediately and stopped her foot while huffing and scowling down at the clothes, causing Maria to laugh. "Just like that honey." Maria took a second to stir then sat down at the table and watched the girl as she folded her clothes, Maria tried not to notice the type of clothes that the girl usually wore, but lately they just seemed to look more and more wrong on the young woman before her. "Please let me take you shopping for some better clothes soon, the ones you get at the Good Will are fine, and I know you buy everything you can find in your size, but Rachel just because you can wear it doesn't mean that you should."

"I know these aren't the nicest clothes, but I still get slushied at school sometimes, and I don't want to wear nice things only to have them ruined by a bully." Rachel was holding up one particular Reindeer sweeter that had been a cream color before being hit with a blue slushy, and now was had a giant stain in it, Rachel put that one down, she wouldn't be wear it again.

"I wish you would let me stop that, if I went after just one of those guys, all of them would stop coming after you." Noah was leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed and an angry look on his face.

"Hate doesn't stop hate Noah, it perpetuates it." Rachel went back to folding her clothes, if only to keep herself busy. "Bullies are going to be bullies no matter what and I would rather be bullied than have someone else be subjected to the same thing, that wouldn't be right."

"You are an incredibly selfless person Rachel Berry, and you are too good for what you've been through." Maria stood then and pulled the top from Rachel's hands before pulling the young woman into her arms; she felt terrible for a second but then made eye contact with her son over the girls head and nodded subtly. Rachel had experienced enough hate to last a life time, and if she wouldn't let people help her than the decision would be made for her, for her own good. "But the slushy's don't happen too often anymore right? So what's the harm with having a few sturdier clothes that don't need to be thrown away after only a few washes? Really you could be saving money." Maria watched as Rachel debated with herself.

"Well I do have that money now." Rachel looked over at Noah, then at the mother hugging her, and nodded. "I guess if you let me help pay we could go shopping." Maria was confused.

"What money?" So Rachel pulled out of the woman's embrace and continued folding her clothes as she told her about the mysterious money that she had found on her door. Maria seemed to be just as amazed and confused as she and Noah were.


	5. Author's note

**AN: So I have some news. I've decided to drop this story, it just isn't fun to write anymore and I don't have the inspiration for it. This story was my attempt at something other than an outlandish AU with a weird gimmick, but I've come to realize that weird gimmicks are sort of my thing, the supernatural stories and the sci-fi stories have always been my favorites to write and normal people are just _so_ boring for me and I can't do it. **

**This one has always been the hardest to write for me and whenever I take a long break it's mostly because it's this stories turn for a new chapter and I'm putting it off as if it's going to kill me, I mean I will seriously do anything else. For me, writing should be something fun that I look forward to and this story is something where I have to force myself to work on it and that just leads to bad writing where it's really you guys who suffer. So I'm sorry if you really liked this story and were looking forward to the next chapter, but this story just isn't in me anymore.**

** If you really want it to continue and are willing to take it off my hands then PM me and we can talk about you taking it over. Sorry again if this disappoints you, but I thought I should post this so you guys aren't just left waiting for the story to continue and it never happens.**


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